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Ezekiel 44:1-31 — The Levites and Priests

Ezek.44.1-31

¹Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. ²And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut.” ³As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit there to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the portico of the gate, and shall go out by the same way. ⁴Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I fell on my face. ⁵And the LORD said to me, “Son of man, set your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I speak to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the LORD and all its laws. Set your heart on the entrance of the house and on all the exits of the sanctuary.” ⁶And you shall say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel.” ⁷“When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, my house, when you offered my food, the fat and the blood, they broke my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.” ⁸“You have not kept the charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.” ⁹Thus says the Lord GOD: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, none of the foreigners who are among the people of Israel.” ¹⁰“But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who strayed from me after their idols, shall bear their guilt.” ¹¹“Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.” ¹²“Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I lifted up my hand against them, declares the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their guilt.” ¹³“They shall not come near me to serve as priests to me, nor come near any of my holy things, the most holy things. They shall bear their shame and the abominations they have committed.” ¹⁴“Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, for all its service and for all that is done in it.” ¹⁵“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD.” ¹⁶“They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.” ¹⁷“And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. No wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court and inside.” ¹⁸“Linen turbans shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their waists. They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.” ¹⁹“When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall take off the garments in which they have ministered and leave them in the holy chambers. Then they shall put on other garments, so that they may not make the people holy by their garments .” ²⁰“They shall not shave their heads, and they shall not let their hair grow long; they shall keep the hair of their heads trimmed.” ²¹“No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.” ²²“They shall not take a widow or a divorced woman as a wife, but only virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.” ²³“They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean.” ²⁴“In a dispute they shall stand to judge; by my judgments they shall judge it. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed times, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.” ²⁵“They shall not go near a dead person to defile themselves, except for father or mother, son or daughter, brother, or a sister who has not belonged to a husband; for these they may defile themselves.” ²⁶“And after his cleansing, seven days shall be counted for him.” ²⁷“And on the day he enters the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.” ²⁸“And this shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.” ²⁹“They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.” ³⁰“And the first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every contribution from all your contributions, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give the first of your dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest on your house.” ³¹The priests shall not eat any carcass or anything torn by beasts, whether bird or animal.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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